Criticisms on the rise against Chinese version of drama ‘Sex and the City’
BEIJING: Criticism is mounting on China’s version of the risque drama Sex and the City, with detractors questioning the appropriateness of its depravity and lack of realism.
Almost every conversation that its lady protagonist Chen Keyi has with another woman is about a man.
At first, fresh graduate Chen is uncomfortable when her wealthy male acquaintance lavishes her with expensive gifts. But her worldly-wise housemate and former classmate Wang Jiajia reassures her: “He doesn’t expect anything from us,” she says. “We’re just having a good time together, right?”
In another episode, Wang instructs Chen how to profit from her femininity. “Some women can use a bed to win themselves a house,” she explains.
Chen, played by Qi Wei, is the protagonist of Beijing Women’s Manual, or Women in Beijing, a new online drama from video platform Youku.
The show charts Chen’s social and professional rise over a decade after she moves to the capital from southwestern China’s Sichuan province.
The series starts in 2008 with Chen planning to move to Beijing with her boyfriend. But he breaks up with her, and she ends up alone in the city looking for work. She stays with a male classmate, who forces himself on her but also connects her to her first job as a receptionist.
What follows is a succession of men who open doors to further professional opportunities and maturity — leading some netizens to quip that the series could more accurately be titled Beijing Women’s Manual for Meeting Womanisers.
Its handling of gender relations was also heavily criticised.
One comment on Douban went: “Is going through a pile of men and using them as springboards (to success) really the only way?”
Another scathing review went: “(Chen) has no CV, no real ability, she relies on her body and appearance to muddle her way up: This kind of plot always makes you think the writers are encouraging everyone to become gold-diggers.” Despite its flaws, many reviewers say the show fares better than other remakes of Japanese and Korean series. Tokyo Women’s Manual, the 2016 Japanese drama on which the new series is based, was a hit in China with a rating of 8.7 out of 10 from 67,000 users on Douban. While Beijing Women’s Manual currently scores 6.2 on Douban, another remake of a Japanese drama, Midnight Diner, is rated a miserable 2.8.
Despite the criticisms, there have been come rave reviews.
“Every detail is realistic and believable,” one top-rated positive Douban comment says of the Beijing-based adaptation. “I’m not a water army soldier (paid commenter), please don’t suspect me everyone, thank you! A decent Chinese remake deserves support: five stars.”